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The Importance of Lesson Warmers
by Neerja Sharma
Have you ever heard of a warmer? A warmer is a short, fun, communicative activity designed to get students motivated to use English in the classroom. A warmer can be used not only in a language class, but also extended to other subjects by the teachers' innovation and inventiveness. Just imagine yourself as a student in a language class after a whole day's grueling and hectic schedule of math and science. If the teacher begins the class by saying, "Good afternoon everybody, today we will discuss the conditional." How would you feel? Definitely not motivated or inspired enough.
Here's exactly where the role and how the importance of warmers comes in. Warmers gear students up before the lesson, but it is important to relate the warmer to the lesson topic. For example, if I plan to teach the present simple tense, I will engage my students in conversation activities like talking about their routines or asking about things that usually happen in their country or region. Or, I can play Hangman with verbs used in the present simple form. In addition, since food is a favorite topic with most of people, I can ask them about their favorite dishes and how they prepare them. I can also divide the class into teams and play Pictionary with them. This is a game where the students can try to identify the routine activity of the team members (like brushing teeth or reading the newspaper) from their drawings.
One warmer activity that is a hit in almost all of my classes is called the vocabulary bubble. I write a word on the board and circle it. Next I ask each student in the class to come up with a word related to the word written on the board. Then I write their words outside the circle, drawing a line from their word to the circled word. In this way, everybody comes up with a different word and I keep writing these words as offshoots of the first word. The students enhance their vocabulary unconsciously as they give me the words and also learn new words given by other students. Then I ask the students to select five words of their choice from the board and write a paragraph using them.
Warmers open up the students towards their teacher. I have experienced this myself in the class. Whenever I introduce warmers in the class, the students' faces brighten up and they become all pepped up to learn something new. They feel involved and more eager to learn the lesson. It is fun, engaging, and a win-win situation for both the students and the teacher. Even the most troublesome students gear up to respond to such activities.
The beauty of warmers is that the students learn without feeling the necessity or compulsion to do so. Warmer activities act as a catalyst to activate the students to get involved in the lesson without being aware of doing so. In addition, these activities, if related to the real life situations of the students, encourage the students to see their value and as a result, to participate with full enthusiasm and force.
Many other such activities can be used in the class depending upon the creativity and willingness of the teacher. Every subject can be made interesting and fun by incorporating these fun but short activities in the beginning of the lesson. Warmers motivate the students and get them in the mood for learning.
